Slingshot Communications, INc. / Cannot contact company

I have tried to contact Slingshot Communication, Inc. by email and phone. They never answer their phones or email.

I have a wireless modem from them that can be "recharged" with a credit card for more airtime. Their online credit card "recharge" system doesn't work. Not being able to contact them, I don't know whether they've "flown the coop" or not!

Their direct phone line is always busy. Their "tech" line is always busy. Arizona BBB doesn't have anything on them, so I'm in the dark about their existence.

Comments

Having the same problem on the 24th. Called the corporate telephone number and heard a message to the effect that they were having problems with their activation system but that their system should be back on line the 23d of February. Anybody want a good deal on a wireless modem?

They just shut me down.. Can not get ahold of anyone to find out why.. I putting there name on the bad list and telling friends not to buy.. Why when you can go with your own phone carrier sometimes cheaper.. Wish I would have known about this all before I bought it..

Well, using Google I found another number I could call to reach them and I did. But, since my reception was bad and it would cost me alot from the Netherlands I told my husband to call that same number. When he called he couldn't get a hold of anyone so I tried again. It's weird because I got someone on the phone again straight away.
I talked first with a young guy, sorry to say but he sounded like his IQ was about the same of a pea. He said he had no clue and put me on hold. Then all of the sudden I got this lady on the phone and she said they would have to look up what the problem is and they would call back within a few minutes. I gave em my husbands' number and waited. After 30 minutes still no call so I decided to call them again. This time, I didn't get through either. A couple of times the line was busy and a couple of times I got to a mailbox which was full so I couldn't leave a message. Exactly the same as my husband had with their numbers all the time. So I thought I'd be smart and try and call them without showing my number. And yes ofcourse, I got someone on the phone!
It was the same lady again, I recognised her voice. So I told her about how she was supposed to call back and asked what happened. She looked up the callback list to see if we were on it and said we weren't. I told her I found that kinda strange since I talked to her about 30 minutes ago. After explaining the problem again she said she needed permission from her supervisor and "well, we will call you back". I told her she wouldn't and I wasn't planning on hanging up untill I either got a supervisor on the phone or had a solution. She told me all supervisors were in a meeting and they would call me back. The strange thing was that she said they would call me back before 7pm eastern time and when I asked how many hours that was since I'm not in the US I don't know. She said "uuhm lemme think what time is it there?... that would be within 7 hours ma'am".
I told her I really wasn't going to wait 7 hours and how she didn't call me back in the first place so her supervisor wasn't going to either I assumed and that I had numerous complaints about not being able to reach the company. Well, I guess she got kinda frustrated because all of the sudden she put me on hold to get the supervisor ... Kinda strange since all supervisors were supposed to be in a meeting and in eastern time somewhere cause she was not (she stated earlier "what time is it there"). But well, I waited... and waited... 30 minutes later I heard "Hi this is Jimmy". So I said hi back and explained how my husband didn't have internet cause he exceeded some kinda limit and asked for a sollution. He said there was no sollution and he would have to wait untill the end of march and then he could make a request. I told him that wasn't really an option and asked if we could pay for the limit he exceeded or for an upgrade or something like that. He said there was no way and we would have to call back in march.
Me: "but how am I sure I can call you in march since we haven't been able to reach your company at all?"
Jimmy: "you have me on the phone right now"
Me: "Yes I know, that has taken us over 2 days now."
Jimmy: "So why doesn't your whiny ### husband call himself then."
Me: "Excuse me??? I am able to reach you now because I'm calling with a private number. No American can reach you, there are numerous complaints about that on the internet. I'm calling from the Netherlands and poof, I get someone on the phone. So in march I have to spend a shitload on my phonebill again to call from the Netherlands because you wont answer American numbers? I really don't appreciate the way you are talking to me, I'm not calling you names either."
Jimmy: "You can call us on this number. I'm not gonna argue with you about phonenumbers."
Me: "Well maybe you should put this phonenumber on your website too then, because in the website there are two totally different numbers that can't be reached in any way. I got this one from googeling your company and finding a pdf file."
Jimmy: "You can reach us on this number ma'am. Call again in march."
Me: "This is really not sufficient. Can I at least report a complaint or something? You don't want bad reviews on the internet do you? I mean, seeing you are a starting business and all.. I just want this solved. Like I said, we are willing to pay any limit that's exceeded."
Jimmy (Yelling): "There is no way. Good luck on reaching us again."

My complaint is that the Novatel modem they sent me was defective almost from day one. For one thing, it includes a flash drive that you're supposed to be able to use for storage and that has the setup files on it. But except for installing the drivers, I have never been able to access the flash drive, instead receiving an error message saying that I need to insert a disk.

Later on the modem began deactivating itself at random intervals. I hear the "hardware removed" sound and the modem's LED would go off. I would have to unplug the modem and plug it back into the USB port to get my computer to recognize it again. None of my other USB devices have done this.

The final straw is as of last Friday, I was thrown offline. Ever since then, when I try to log back in, it will say "connecting" and then return me to "device is ready" in the Connection Manager program.

I then decided to try and reinstall all the drivers and software, only to discover that now I cannot even access the setup files on the modem's flash drive, meaning that somehow the flash drive has become totally corrupted and inaccessible.

And as with the other plaintiffs on their board, I am unable to reach Slingshot by contact form, email or phone. I even decided to just buy another modem, but now I find I cannot even order a modem off their site anymore. When I click on Buy Now, it takes me to a page, saying, "Please purchase from one of our partners" and then they don't bother to list their partners!

I went to their other site, Get Your Slingshot.com, hoping for better luck, but when I click Order, it just returns me to the start page, with no order form to fill out.

I believe this company is done. I bought one of their modems in February from a Pilot Travel Center as it seemed like the only pay-as-you-go broadband modem available with a good coverage area (Sprint's).

It worked great for the couple of months after the intitial activation. I had an employee use it in Hawaii, as well as several other employees use it with success in Chicago, Virginia, and Maryland.

My 1st indication that something might be amiss was the day I activated the modem, when their 800-number activiation line didn't even work right. I had to call the Arizona local number, and I got a hold of a guy that was able to activate it. I told him about the 800-number never ringing through and he didn't seem to bothered.

Since then the indications of this company folding have been coming steadily. I tried to purchase another unit at the same Pilot where I got the 1st one in February about a month later and was told they no longer carried them. Their website quit selling the modems directly, and indicated that you could purchase them through a reseller, but then listed no reseller's. Once my inititial activation period was expiring in April, I was able to purchase a recharge on-line once, even though I had my doubts that it would go through, and now it seems that function has also been taken down. https://store.slingshot.com/buy.asp lists now includes the simple "Sorry, this feature is currently unavailable." in red above the purchase button.

An employee of mine started receiving the exact same message on Friday (5/8/2009) and couldn't connect that the previous poster mentioned (""connecting" and then return me to "device is ready" ). My belief is that they have been on the verge of collapse for months and now Sprint has finally cut off their water, probably because they haven't been paying Sprint for the service.

I tried their 800 number again and of course it doesn't work, so I called the 480 number listed above and got the auto-attendant. It let me leave a message, which I did, but I don't expect to ever hear from them again.

My advice is to give the modem to your kids. They can pretend it's a communicator a-la Star Trek. That's about all they're going to be good for now.

I see that slingshots website is still up and running but their service is not. I paid for 10 mounths of service, one week later I had no service. I've tried calling them and emailing them. They do not answer their phone and do not answer emails. I'm going to contact the better bussiness bureau may be they can get an answer from slingshot. I have to say that the service I had was great, but they need to tell customers when they are having problems with service. Now I just feel like I got robbed buy them.

I’m going to the BBB…and the Attorney General. I paid my payment on line and my internet connection lasted 1 day. Their phone is busy or no answer. I will sue them for false advertising and theft by internet.
The most awesome investment ever to turn into the worst experience…what a nightmare.
Greg Andress- Phone:501-428-5398

I called Pilot Travel Centers customer service and was given the following number: (800) 647-1718.

I called it and spoke with a lady who told me that they are working to restore the system as soon as possible and that any time the system was down would be added to my account. She also said that she was not part of Slingshot Communications and her primary concern was customers who purchase their service from Pilot.

I have also contacted my bank and they are trying to retrieve the payment that I made last month ($550).

The slingshot.com website is no longer working. I've filed a complaint with the State of Arizona consumer complaints department. I would suggest that everyone do that in order to put pressure on this office to get on Slingshot's case. Go ahead and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but realize that they have no legal authority. The BBB maintains a database of complaints and it's more helpful to contact this office BEFORE you choose to do business with a company. Hopefully, Slingshot is working on the problem, but I'm not going to wait around for weeks for them to get their act together. As suggested in an earlier post, I've contacted Millenicom and plan to switch over. You don't have to purchase the modem with this company...they send it to you and you simple send it back if you ever decide to switch to another service. My biggest complaint with Switchboard (other than the fact that they have ripped me off for a month's service---I'm glad I didn't prepay for a longer period of time) is the fact that I'm stuck with a useless USB modem that only works with their service.

Not surprisingly, Slingshot Communications Inc. treated it's suppliers/contractors just as poorly as it did its consumers. Here's a complaint filed by their website designer last November about their refusal to pay for his services and the verbal abusiveness of their owners towards him (/URL removed/):

Slingshot Communications of Tempe, AZ hired myself a Graphic and Website designer to work on their website.

After working with numerous people at the company and third party outsource I invoiced for a small portion of my time put into their project.

On trying to collect payment for the work complete over 120 days later I received very abusive, defamatory emails from David Vindici. When trying to call to discuss the matter like professional business people, David was unable to hold a calm and collected conversation with myself and continued to verbally abuse me. I myself only wanted to state that I needed to be paid for the work he had initiated but he refused to listen to what I had to say.

I found his approach very unprofessional and his actions proof that he is fighting a losing battle, so as a warning to other designers, web or graphic BEWARE, you won't get paid.

I look forward to taking all my written evidence with regard to the work complete and abusive emails to court.

He's still listed as the CEO of Global Communication Services (http://www.gcs-us.com), which, according to this article, is the parent company of Slingshot Communications, or at least bought the brand name: "Global Communication Services Inc. -GCS- Continues Forward with the 'Slingshot' Brand of Prepaid Internet"
Business Wire, Feb 11, 2003 ( http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_Feb_11/ai_97452451/)

The company he acquired the Slingshot name from "Slingshot Communications" of Seattle, had just folded, leaving a great number their users high and dry.

I too have problems with slingshot, no answer to emails and phone busy all the time. I mailed them back the modem(piece of junk ) and went with Sprint direct, no middle man this way. Hope Sprint realizes what Slingshot is doing to people. I had just paid for a month and lost service. Glad I was month to month and not paid for a year.

I just called them again today and now you get a recording in which they tell you that, despite their efforts to resolve the situation, Sprint has cut off all the Slingshot customers. They go on to say that they have filed a lawsuit against Sprint, blah, blah, blah and ask you to leave a message with your name, phone and the esn number from your modem so that they can contact you when things have been resolved. Not looking very promising...

I am also a victim of this company. I will also file a complaint with the Arizona Consumer Complaints Department. I am however happy that I have some direction to turn by coming across this site. For days, I thought that the problem was with my particular modem or location. This whole thing was the answer to my problem of needing a fast internet connection without a cumbersome contract agreement. I told everyone about it, now I just look like an uninformed consumer. Let's hope for the best and perhaps we will at least get all or part of our initial investment back. Lisa Allen, Lynn, IN

i would advise all who bought slingshots to sue in the county where you bought the moden_also include the retailer
you bought from since they acted as a slingshot agent_i would sue for $5, 000.00 punitive damages since they have breached
and have put some people thru living hell and never bothered to explain! at least you would have a judgement cause they most likely will not show in court. also we have grounds for a class action lawsuit. i will try and find a lawyer to handle this.
my email is swiftsesser@copper.net_send me name and address and phone number and when i have enough names i will turn this over to an attorney